Has anyone ever taken A&P I & II via online?

I just recently enrolled in a local community college to obtain my nursing license. This summer I will be taking Human Growth and Dev. online. The in Fall '07 I am going to enroll in A&P I online plus take Microbiology as an evening class. I have my Bachelor's of Science in Human Services from another school so I don't have to take any of the core classes other than what is required for the nursing program.

Have any of you ever taken A&P I and II online? I can take A&P in the Fall and then A&P II during the summer and both are offered online. So I am considering doing it since I am a mother to a 7 month old. It would make things A LOT easier to do it on the web.

If you have taken it online, please share your experiences with me plus your opinions as far as work load compared to regularly attending it in a classroom and what work was required. thanks!

You might get more responses if you post on the distance learning forum here at allnurses. For the record, I have taken micro, gen chem, and A&P II online. You have to check with the school you want to apply to in order to see if they will accept these credits. My classes had labs too (interactive software and lab kit at home). Overall the classes were really tough and I wish I could have taken them in person at a local college. The grades I got hurt my overall gpa. But, I got accepted into NS so no more worries. :spin:

Dee

May 8, '07

I took A&P I and II online. I feel like I had to study twice as much as if I had taken it in a classroom setting. Many of the concepts are complex and I read every chapter at least three times. However, I studied like mad and used all of the study aids (CD, online textbook website) and I did well. Good luck to you.

May 9, '07

Honestly, I knew people that took A&P online. At my school, the online A&P is much much easier. BUT-- the students that took it were lacking very important information. Anatomy and Physiology is the foundation of nursing. Its one of those classes that you want to challenge yourself! Especially the 2nd portion!

May 9, '07

Hi mommy,

I took both A&P I and II online, along with all my Englishes, Psychs and Governments and did just fine. I even took Micro along with A&P II!! I actually learned more that way. Of course it all depends upon the instructor teaching the class. Mine was absolutely wonderful, and pushed us all to learn as much as we could and did everything she could to help us. She was available to answer questions, and was very quick to respnd back. I would not have done it any other way! BUT, you have to be very disciplined to keep up with your studies, it is more work, since you have to read and learn on your own. I am a visual learner so I tend do do better reading it on my own. I have 4 kids at home, so believe me, it is totally doable! And you do learn just as much as if you were in the classroom. You just don't have to listen to all the crap that goes on with other students!! I still had to go on campus to do my labs, so I didn't miss out there, either. I know some schools do labs at home, but if possible, I would at least go to the on campus lab. That is where you get the hands on learning. Good luck whichever way you decide to go~

May 9, '07

I think a&p is far too important in nursing to just take the online class. Take the classroom class and get all u can get out of it! you will be thankful u did once u r in nursing school!

May 11, '07

I think it depends on the school and the individual students. Some students are auditory learners and do better in class. Other students tend to learn visually or kinestheticly. Here is a great, free, website that has a questionnaire that will tell you how you learn: http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp

I was almost entirelly read/write with some kinesthetic so I was good to go online.

I took a hybrid class - the lecture portion was online and the lab in class. It was ideal because you could also attend the in-class lecture whenever you wanted (taught by the exact same teacher with the exact same material). The idea was that to allow for attrition - the online students take up the seats left empty as the traditional students dropped (our school had high attrition rates). With the hybrid, another advantage was that you still had access to the teacher for 3 hours a week for lab, for any clarification you needed.

I had a young child at home so I was never able to attend a lecture. However, I spent the 3 hours a week I would have normally been in class reading my book and the lecture notes, in addition to the number of hours you would normally spend studying - so yes, to get a good grade and to get everything you can out of it, you are going to put in a lot of time. What I did save was transportation time and cost.

I don't think taking it online is cheating yourself out of any knowledge -I got the highest grade in both I & II out of both the online and on campus students (not meant to be a brag but to demonstrate that taking it online does not mean skimping on knowledge). As I mentioned, I think it depends on the program and student's style of learning. I did decide not to take it over summer though (online or on-campus) because I would not retain as much if I had to learn it that fast - but again, that depends on the individual and their learning style.

May 15, '07

I took A&P II online. My instructor also taught it on campus. She allowed her on campus students to access her course online if they were stuggling in the classroom because she had so much more interactive information on there. I absolutely loved it and am constantly remembering things from that course in my nursing classes. I do not feel I was short changed at all.

May 15, '07

My school doesn't offer on-campus labs for anyone (that's what happens when your tuition ranks 50/50 states), and he prerecorded all lectures and posted them at a website. We register for either online or live lecture, but anyone is allowed to attend the live class (seating allowing) and access to the website. The material is exactly the same. I chose to do it from home, b/c I could play back the lectures at my own pace, get up and move laundry in the middle, etc. Despite the lack of live labs (A&P only, we have a supposedly state of the art clinical lab), my school has a greater than 95% first-time NCLEX pass rate, and tuition is $1100 for 1st semester at least. You get out of an online class what you put into it though, so you have to be dsiciplined.

May 15, '07

can anyone tell me at which schools you take your online courses?

May 18, '07

I taught myself A&P via podcast lectures while commuting to/from school (45mins each way -- a perfect length for some of these lectures), and then took a challenge exam through Excelsior College when I thought I was ready. I did fine, and my college will accept the credits from Excelsior.

Yes, I missed out on some of the hands-on stuff, but nursing is all hands-on, so I pick it up that way... a little slower to get the material you would've gotten in lab, but dissecting a cat or something like that really won't help you THAT much in nursing.

May 30, '07

Wow....I wouldn't recommend it. A & P is learning another language...you build your entire nursing academics on this foundation..... difficult subject in the classroom, where you can ask the teacher questions.